The Irish standard., 1887-07-02
Mr.. GLADSTONE IN WALES.
Extracts From One of His Most Pow
erful Orations- Why Ireland is in
So Deplorable a Condition.
BETTER DAYS ARE COMING

The Injustice Of English Rule Over
Her Accounts for All
Her Troubles.
Thirty-five thousand Welshmen. re-
presenting Liberal associations, ''march-
ed past" Mr.. and Mrs. Gladstone and a
distinguished assembly at Swansea on
Saturday, June 4. The occasion was
one of the most remarkable in the mo-
dern history of South Wales. The en-
thusiasm was unbounded, and many
unique presents were made to the ex-
Premier and to Mrs. Gladstone, besides
the large number of Illuminated ad-
dresses that were presented to the aged
statesmen. At Singleton Abbey the
meeting was held, and it was there Mr..
Gladstone delivered the eloquentsp speech
from which we extract the points made
in reference to Ireland. 1t took four
hours and half for the procession with
it's bands and bards to file past. Pa
triotic Welsh songs were sung by the
multitude, and when the time came for
speaking, Mr.. Gladstone said: I shall
not be accused of exaggeration when I
say that we have to-day witnessed a
wonderful and an affecting sight. 1t
was wonderful from the magnitude Of
what we have seen. The bands and the
banners, even taken by themselves,
would have furnished material for a
glowing description especially let me
select for commendation that one
banner upon which was writ
ten in words of eloquence and truth,
"union of hearts, not manacles." But
that was a remarkable procession for
the human figures of which it was COM
posed, and for the human hearts that
glowed within every one Of those fig
ures-hearts stirred with deep emotion.
This occasion is at once Imperial, Irish
and Welsh. It is imperial, because the
character and honor of the Empire re-
quire that an end should be put to these
painful relations between England and
ireland which for generations and, I
grieve to say, for centuries have shocked
the feelings and judgment Of the whole
civilized world. 1t is Irish. because
Ireland is the country that has deepest
and most immediate interest Of all in
your proceedings, inasmuch as the OBJ
ject is to restore the basis Of social Or
der and to bring the feelings of the peo-
pie into harmony with the voice Of the
rest of the Empire. Mr.. Gladstone then
went on to prove that Wales was ma
tionality, that she had many grievances
that should be removed, and then pro-
ceeds: am not going to compare the
history of the relations between Eng
land and Wales with the deplorable,
disgraceful, shocking and revolving his
tory of the relations between England
and Ireland; but the object Of all de-
clare that I feel to be nearest my heart,
being an Englishman by birth, having
lived in England, having fought and
labored for England with all my might,
through long life anxious as 1 am to
put an end to the sorrows Of Ireland
and to bring her people and her laws
into formal and regular state if pos
sible, am yet more anxious to live to
see the day, if God should grant me the
enormous favor. that the deepest stain
that lies on the English character and
reputation should be removed by the
final work of doing justice to Ireland's
grievances. You all know that it is
customary to say, and to say truly, that
Ireland constitutes the block of busi-
ness. But there are some gentlemen
whose imaginations are so lively, and
whose partizanship is so keen, that they
take upon them to say that I, forsooth,
am the man who has just put Ireland in
the way of public progress. and caused
Ireland to have that baneful, deplorabie
and grievous monopoly, more grievous
to itself than to anybody else, of the
time Of the House of Commons. Cen
tlemen, that is fundamentally untrue.
It was not I, nor was it the leaders of
the Liberal party, that made the Irish
question since December, 1885, the lead
ing subject in the House Of Commons.
It was Lord Salisbury and the Tory
party; and yet you will permit me to
remind you that before we came into
Office in February, 1855, and determined
to occupy the time of Parliament by
proposing for Ireland remedial mea-
sures which were meant to take the
difficulty out Of the way-before that
change of Government, the first
Tory Government had announced
almost Immediately after that cleo
tion, and when they no longer
wanted the Irish vote, that they intend
ed to propose coercion for Ireland. That
was at the end Of January, 1883. Well,
gentlemen, we have always said that it
,is q question either Of coercion or Of.
remedy. There was no doubt about II,
From the moment that Ireland enjoyed 3
j Ithank God, the same large extension